My Study of Breast Cleavage And What It Means To Men — And To Me
Do men really care about breasts that much?
We are bombarded with breast cleavage.
Whether it’s on the internet, TV, movies, magazines, porn, or even just walking down the street — cleavage is all around us.
The definition of cleavage is, ‘the hollow between a woman’s breasts when supported, especially as exposed by a low-cut garment.’
The ‘hollow of a woman’s breasts’ or ‘cleavage’ has been sexualized to no end. Most of us have grown up alongside the concept that a woman’s breasts are essentially the holy grail of sex appeal.
Breasts ARE hot. Cleavage IS attractive. But can you still be sexy without amazing cleavage?
I ask this because I have a large third-degree burn on my chest from an accident when I was very young. The scar fits right there in that ‘hollow’ where my cleavage would be. Therefore, as I grew up and into a young woman, I felt that I couldn’t wear anything low-cut because my cleavage was showcasing an unsightly scar.
Granted, I could have rocked that scarred cleavage and not cared what anyone thought, but when you’re a teenage girl, having that kind of chutzpah isn’t easy — especially if you’re already insecure.
My burn scar sucked for my already vulnerable self-esteem. I obsessed about not having the bouncing, full cleavage that permeates our breast-obsessed society and beauty culture.
I wore high-necked everything. I hid. All I wished for was smooth, soft, skin so that I too could wear a low-cut outfit and feel like a seductive, boobalicious vixen.
I was programmed to believe that ample breasts and bursting cleavage were what men wanted. In my mind, I did not possess what men wanted.
For a long period of self-wallowing, I convinced myself that I was deformed and a whole universe away from wearing the sultry breast-baring outfits I thought would make me complete.
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The puzzle of the cleavage haunted me up until my thirties. Eventually, I got over the whole thing and learned to feel sexy on my own terms without the big breasts or the cleavage line.
However, I do still wonder what the fascination is with breasts and cleavage.
Larry Young and Brian Alexander released the book ‘The Chemistry Between Us: Love, Sex and the Science of Attraction’. In this book, the two men have intricately dissected all the emotional, biological, and cultural elements behind the real reason men are so attracted to breasts.
The authors believe that straight men are obsessed with women’s breasts because of a hormone released during nursing, which helps to make that powerful bond between mother and child. They believe that men who were breastfed as children then grow up with an evolutionary drive for a strong nurturing bond with their female partners.
Apparently, it all goes back to mothers — which doesn’t surprise me much.
The idea is that when a man looks at or touches a woman’s breasts, it sparks the same series of brain events as nursing, and the feel-good chemical, Oxytocin, is released into the man’s brain. Therefore, men are drawn to breasts because, subconsciously, they remember the feel-good experience of nursing as a child.
Hmmm. Food for thought.
But what if a man wasn’t breastfed as a baby? Does he then feel repelled by breasts? What if you’re a woman who is attracted to other women’s breasts — as many are? I’m skeptical about some of these theories as to why men, in particular, are so attracted to breasts.
Loving breasts because your mother’s breasts nourished you as a baby (if she breastfed) and wanting to stick your penis between two breasts (popular in porn) seems like an odd pairing to me.
There’s also the theory that when men see a woman with an ample bosom, it represents her having good health and accentuates the idea that she will be able to bear children.
There’s no doubt that in The United States, our breast obsession is much more pronounced than in other countries such as Europe, where public nudity at topless beaches or women freely breastfeeding anywhere without being shamed is more widely displayed.
Perhaps we become obsessed with what we’re told we shouldn’t look at and perhaps breast cleavage is one of those tantalizingly taboo things — at least here in The United States.
We often judge women who wear low-cut, revealing outfits displaying cleavage as being ‘attention-seeking’ or we sometimes assume she’s trying to catch a man by showing off her ‘assets’.
But is that really how you ‘catch a man’? Do men care about breasts that much?
I’ve pondered and researched this issue, however, the question remains.
Hopefully, some knowledgeable men out there will be so kind as to enlighten me.